Camping and Hunting in the Shoshone 



ure of the other members of the party. 

 For this reason I never, when I can help 

 it (i.e., when I can get meat any other 

 way), begin the trip by attempting hard 

 sheep-hunting ; better wait till regular and 

 more moderate exercises have braced the 

 nerves and muscles ; better, too, wait till 

 each knows pretty well what he can and 

 cannot do. If you have patience, sooner 

 or later you may get a ram in an easy 

 place, and so secure your " head ; " but 

 remember that following this shyest and 

 noblest of all Rocky Mountain game 

 animals makes larger demands on your 

 skill and patience, as well as on your 

 steadiness of head and hand, than any 

 other sport. 



Three more pieces of advice let me 

 briefly give: First, never go up or down 

 any specially steep or dangerous piece of 

 rock when you don't feel you can return 

 the way you came. A fall on the rocks 

 (like Mercutio's rapier-wound, that was 

 not "deep as a well, but yet was enough ") 

 may not be from a height that you can 

 call a precipice, yet may be quite sufficient 

 to spoil the trip, not for yourself only, but 

 for your companions as well. Second, be 

 careful when you are on " conglomerate/' 

 a very common formation in mountains. 



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